A look one year back
On October 27th, 2008 at around 11AM, my life nearly changed permanently - and nearly in a bad way. After weighing the advantages (and in my mind, at the time, the disadvantages) of patiently waiting for a truck to slowly accelerate to speed right before an on-ramp to I-40 Eastbound, I decided, poorly, to pass the slow-moving vehicle in my 2006 Civic on the left right before crossing infront of it to make the relatively sharp curve onto the highway onramp. Needless to say, the maneuver resulted in massive oversteer. I couldn't correct early, for risk of flipping my car over an island. Instead, I chose to wait out the slide, but it was too late. I helplessly mashed the brake pedal, but my tires found no purchase and I smashed into an embankment at nearly 65MPH. My luck turned for the better, as the embankment was sloped instead of a flat wall. After taking off the front bumper, deploying the airbag and flattening the lower half of the engine bay, I ramped off the embankment instead of smashing full-force into it. Because of the angle, the momentum caused the car to flip over, and I continued the rest of the journey on the roof of the car, sliding backwards.
I will never forget the smells, the pops, crunches, smashes, and shattering noises that I smelled, felt, and heard that day. I am lucky and grateful to be alive to tell this story, yet I never suffered a single injury other than airbag burn. While it is obivous that, had the car been equipped with Electronic Stability Control (see an amazing demo here) that the oversteer would not have happened. Yet, this is no excuse. I learned a very hard, but valuable lesson that rides with me every day that I drive. Today, I happily drive a 2009 Jetta TDI with Electronic Stability Control (called ESP for Electronic Stabilisation Programme). I strive every day to be safer, to be patient, and to be thankful that I wasn't hurt, and that I hurt nobody else.
So, today I think back, solemnly, yet gratefully, and continue to make the promise of patience to myself and others. Thanks for reading.
